Presently, sutures that are tied to maintain a wound in a closed position are hand-tied by the surgeon performing the procedure. Forming the suture knot and tying off the suture knot such that the knot does not slip or is too slack with respect to the tissue opening can be a challenging final step in what may already be a challenging and arduous procedure. In some instances, there is limited space and clearance for a surgeon to make the necessary movements of the tool or of their hand in the area that is being sutured, such as areas near bone. In those instances, tying a steadfast suture against the tissue to be held together may be challenging. Finally, while an operating room is technically sterile, it would still be advantageous to lessen the time an area being operated on is left open to potential infectious agents. Thus, decreasing the time it takes to tie off a suture is desirable.
While suture-related instruments such as suture passers and knot pushers have been developed to aid in reducing suturing time and suturing difficult to access areas of the body, these devices still fall short of being able to quickly tie adequate suture knots. For example, suture pushers may be able to stitch tissue even in hard to reach areas, but once a suture requires tying off, it is still a challenge for a surgeon to easily loop the suture ends together using a suture pusher.
Surgical staples are an alternative to sutures for quickly closing a wound. Unfortunately, surgical staples leave unpleasing closure marks upon healing. Thus, it would be desirable to have a device for providing an easy way to tie off a suture where there is no steep learning curve for using such a device.